


In Spite Of

by setosdarkness



Series: OTP Collection - JuHaku [30]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: JuHaku Week, M/M, Prompt: Fate, everybody lives au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 07:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3349523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setosdarkness/pseuds/setosdarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite Emperor Hakutoku's recent death, since it's Hakuyuu who's ascending to the throne, the Kou Empire's future remains bright. </p><p>[OR: the Everybody Lives AU, but Hakuryuu and Judar still fall to depravity]</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Spite Of

**Author's Note:**

> notes: Ooooh, got the initial idea of the everybody lives AU from oiyukis-senpai (&that official pic!). I'm fondly blaming Chelsea for fueling the change of this happy-fluffy AU to a tragic one LOL  
> others: title is from "in spite of a nail" / "for want of a nail" tropes :)

•••

"Long live the Kou Empire! Long live the Kou Empire! Long live the Kou Empire!"

Despite Emperor Hakutoku's recent death, since it's First Prince Hakuyuu who's ascending to the throne, the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

Hailed by many as the fastest-growing nation in the recent era, the Kou Empire has started from just one tribe in the Far East. Thanks to Emperor Hakutoku's skillful handling of negotiations and his exceptional skills with the sword, he was able to unite all of the eastern clans in order to stop their wars over the scarce resources, to the point that the memory of the Kou Empire being just one or two clans is almost laughable.

 _The world is one_.

That's the philosophy that Emperor Hakutoku has operated under, the golden rule of the empire that is passed along to all of its heirs, to all of its advisors, to all of its citizens.

The Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Aaaah they're so mean, aren't they, Hakuryuu~~~???"

Judar sinks into Hakuryuu's lap with a slight oof, the impact cushioned by his thick Oracle robes. Despite being an important figure that was rescued by their forces from a burning hometown on the northeastern mountain recesses, Judar has never been a stickler for formal behavior. He's adorably childish, mischievous most of the time, prone to throwing tantrums whenever he gets scolded for doing something that he's definitely not supposed to do.

He's a young child with the power of a _magi_ , able to raise dungeons of power for the Kou Empire generals to conquer.

His rank is comparable – and maybe even higher – to that of an emperor's.

That said, he's very unhappy with his power.

"They're not being mean," Hakuryuu explains patiently, sifting through Judar's hair and dislodging some of the twigs and leaves that have made their home in the other's thick locks. He wants to braid nicer flowers into Judar's hair, but it's just going to be ruined if Judar continues rolling around the palace's courtyard without abandon. "Thank you for raising a dungeon for Brother—um, Emperor Yuu."

"They _are_ ," Judar insists with a pout, though it soon dissolves into satisfied purring as Hakuryuu scratches his nails lightly over Judar's scalp. He rubs his face against Hakuryuu's padded stomach, loving the feel of the rich silk against his cheeks. This is the best he can get away with this afternoon, because the servants are so _nosy_ and love telling on Judar whenever he lifts away Hakuryuu's robes and rubs his face directly against Hakuryuu's skin that's much softer than silk. Oh well. It's not like he can't do it when it's nighttime instead.

"Oh. And you're welcome, Hakuryuu~~~" Judar frowns when he remembers the reason for his ire. "I'd rather give that dungeon to _you_ , but they're all very insistent that I give it to Hakuyuu instead. It's so _unfair_!"

"Is that why you didn't go to a dungeon with them?" Hakuryuu wonders out loud as he remembers spotting Judar hiding behind one of the tall bookcases in the study earlier today. He also distinctly remembers his brothers' aides, Kouen, Koumei and Kouha, running around the palace with long-suffering expressions on their faces, searching for Judar who's _supposed_ to be guiding the Emperor on his trip inside a dangerous dungeon.

Judar grins impishly, proud expression on his face despite being seen through. "Uh-huh. If Hakuyuu really is so strong then he shouldn't have a problem if I'm not there, right!"

"Bro—Emperor Yuu is _strong_."

Judar looks like he's going to argue, but he doesn't, letting the matter go with a huff. He cuddles closer to Hakuryuu, ignoring the hissing from the servants that mill around them. He knows that he's going to get scolded once they all return later, for running away from his duties, but for now, he doesn't care about all those. He'd rather stay with Hakuryuu here, in the expansive courtyard filled with flowers and leaves.

The Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Bro-uh-Emperor Yuu, Bro-um-Head Advisor Ren—!"

Hakuryuu calls out to his two brothers that are practicing together, presumably in an effort to learn more about the new power that they had gained from the dungeon that Judar raised last month.

His mother and his sister both have asked him to stay put in the study and finish all of his assigned scrolls, but he'd rather watch his brothers' practice, honestly. It's not like he'll ever need to put into use the scrolls that he's studying – he'll never be needed in a situation where he'll have to make use of knowledge about the Torran Tribes and such.

His brother's aides, Kouen in particular, are just being mean to him by assigning all those difficult hard reading materials. They've been watching him closely ever since they found him and Judar tangled together in the gardens that day, when Judar was _supposed_ to do his part of being an Oracle.

Judar has whined at them incessantly about how that was just his decision, but Hakuryuu knows that they think he's trying to monopolize all of Judar's time. It's absurd, because he just likes spending time with the other, but not to the point that he'll keep him from his duty. Running away from his tasks is purely Judar's poor decision-making skills.

In any case, Hakuryuu manages to find his way to the corner of the palace reserved for his brothers' training grounds. Judar is already there, waving at him enthusiastically and patting at the space beside him. For a moment, Hakuryuu is proud of his friend finally owning up to his role as the Oracle, but then he sees the lapful of peaches from the tree beside the training grounds and realizes that it's merely coincidence that Judar looks as though he's surveying the progress of the emperor's training.

"Hakuryuu," his brothers greet him in unison, patting his head before he reaches Judar's spot. Judar is frowning at being ignored in favor of the two. "Do you want to try practicing with us?"

They don't say anything about the fact that he surely should be still holed up in the study on the other end of the palace.

"Yes, brother!"

" _No_ ," Judar exclaims, standing up quickly. The peaches roll to the ground. He doesn't seem to notice his favorite food going to waste. "If you practice with them, you might become part of their household! I don't want that!"

A household vessel – he has heard about that.

Apparently, if you fight alongside Bro-Emperor Yuu, you can obtain a part of his dungeon's power and work for him and serve him.

"That sounds so cool! I want to help you, brother! Um, I mean, Emperor!"

" _Nooooo_ ," Judar whines, barreling into Hakuryuu and grabbing him, physically shielding him away from his brothers. "You can't be a part of their _household_! You _can't_!"

"Eh, but I want to!" Hakuryuu turns to his friend leaning heavily into him. He doesn't see his brothers' amused looks at watching their overly-friendly antics.

"You can't!" Judar repeats, eyes screwed shut as he's wont to do whenever he tries to think of a good reason to support his arguments. More often than not, he's not able to come up anything fairly substantial. "You're… _weak_! And you're a crybaby! And you can't _fight_!"

"I'm not a crybaby," Hakuryuu tearfully protests, because it's true that he can't fight and he only knows how to pretend that he's intently reading the really long scrolls when in fact he's half-asleep. But Judar doesn’t have to say all those out loud. "You're so mean, Judar!"

Judar looks happy at being called mean, but then he rubs his thumbs over the lower parts of his eyes to gather and wipe the tears that are starting to fall. He then routinely licks his thumbs, as though he's very curious about the salty quality of his tears. Hakuryuu's face grows warm at the sight of Judar licking his fingers for his tears.

"The brat is right, 'ryuu," Br-Head Advisor Ren tells him gently, not as close as he usually would like, because Judar is still wrapped around him rather tightly. "You're still kinda weak for any sort of battle."

"Hey, stop insulting Hakuryuu, you stupid Hakuren!"

"What the— you just called him a crybaby a few minutes ago!"

"I don't care! Take it back!"

"You brat!"

The Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"…Brother…? Where are you…? Sister…? Where am I…?"

Hakuryuu remembers excusing himself from the dining table, stomach feeling weird and heavy after a full, extravagant meal. While it's true that he begged to join his brothers' peace negotiations with a distant tribe to the southwestern edge of the continent, he's now kind of regretting being so persistent with his request. He didn't understand anything that they talked about and all their food are ridiculously oily and he doesn't have anything to talk with Kougyoku and Kouha and his sister's time is being monopolized by Kouen and Judar is off to the other end of the continent, doing some Oracle duties.

He remembers only up until trying to find his guest room, but then, oh, he remembers being stopped by a suspicious guy with a veil over his face, held by a crown made of thorns.

He remembers—

"…Brother…? Where are you…? Sister…? Where am I…?"

In spite of Prince Hakuryuu's kidnapping, since he's just a powerless, weakling prince without any chance of ascending to the throne…

The Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

 **In Spite Of**  
» _in spite of all the horrors that happen to him, they say that the future remains bright_ «

•••

"Hakuryuu! You're gonna be okay, aren't you?! Hey, Hakuryuu! Hakuryuu!!!"

Hakuryuu hears those frantic words in a seemingly-endless loop.

He hears those words break the monotonous prayers of the veiled priests. He hears those words instead of the nonsensical stuff about the great _rukh_ , about the great flow, about the great world. He hears those words instead of the dark whispers prompting him to curse his fate.

When he finally gains the strength to open his eyes – oh, it's only one eye that he can open now, as there's something heavy like a bandage placed over his left eye – the first thing that swims into his vision is the worried face of someone who has only shown such concern over the supply and demand of peaches in the local market.

Hakuryuu almost chokes out a wry observation as to how he's probably reached the height of his ranking in Judar's list of how he considers people, if he's ranked the same as his beloved peaches. It's good that his throat is scratchy from all the smoke that he has inhaled, along with the burns that plundered half his body and half his neck—because a moment passes and all he sees is that worried face of his friend being stained with sickly _black_ and an even sicker _red_.

It's been months, he's been made aware, since he has been rescued by a team of soldiers led by Judar and his self-proclaimed magi's intuition. It's been months, but he still hears the rhythmic chanting of words and curses about the world and its fate and its flow and its _rukh_. It's been months since he has been rescued from the cage in the middle of concentric circles of a certain cultish organization. It's been months since he's been saved from his captives that made him see nothing but a world dyed in black.

So Hakuryuu settles for simply biting his lip and refusing to let other articulate sounds escape his mouth.

Judar seems to understand – as _always_ – and he settles on the bed beside him, instead of at a more respectable distance by the foot of the bed or even at the cushioned chair pulled up by the bedside.

"So you know, the other day, Koumei's pigeons – you know Koumei, right, he's the freckled guy that… never mind – so you see, Koumei got attacked by the pigeons that he was feeding. He was so confused as to why those birds betrayed him pffft—"

Judar doesn't say anything about how he was able to find him in some abandoned warehouse in the middle of some decrepit underground city. He also doesn't say anything about the pitiful state of the person he's always teased about being more than enough to be an emperor instead. He also doesn't say anything about the black birds that are apparently visible only to certain mages and magi like him.

"—and you should really see how gullible the old hag is—did you know that she actually believed the pig mud bath that I told her—"

Hakuryuu doesn't ask anything about the lead on the investigation on the group that kidnapped him, because he's already heard about it from his brothers when they visited and they thought that he was asleep still. They think that those cultists just chose someone to attack at random, without any prior thought, without any reason.

It just so happened that he was the person unfortunate enough to be at that place, at that time.

It's been months, but he still hears the echoes of the hatred-filled whispers about the world's flow and order, about how everyone is just living in the palm of some being's design.

He hears their echoes especially now.

He's the Prince who unfortunately became a victim of some crazy cultists and their random acts of terrorism.

And yet, they say that the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Hakuryuu! Why won't you conquer a dungeon with me?"

Hakuryuu frowns.

It's a question that has left Judar's mouth a couple of times when they were much younger. After That Incident, Judar has stopped bugging him about it, presumably due to common sense that a scarred and injured guy that isn't able to fend off a group of old men that didn't have any skills whatsoever with the sword isn't going to be a great king candidate. Or rather, a much more applicable common sense would be to think that there's already an amazing emperor and king in the empire and it isn't Hakuryuu.

"Shut up, Judar," is all that he says to that kind of invitation though.

Hakuryuu sometimes wonder if the invitations will stop once he actually explains the reason behind his refusals to Judar. The constant feeling of not being good enough for anything, much less a sacred power raised by an important Oracle… he wonders if there are proper words on how to express that kind of feeling.

"…Hmm. Well, that's alright." Judar says contemplatively – the tone so out of character from his usual responses, that Hakuryuu almost gets a whiplash from turning around so quickly. He almost drops the stack of scrolls in his arms too – well, he did drop them, but they didn't tumble down the corridor, thanks to the gust of wind magic that Judar has flicked his way. Judar continues, as though nothing out of ordinary has happened and as though he didn't just casually spare Hakuryuu the trouble of going down on his hands and knees to collect fallen cylindrical scrolls. "…I'm pretty sure you'll change your mind in the future. Just let me know if you've changed your mind, okay, Hakuryuu?"

He doesn't like the confidence there.

Is this because it's his _fate_ to follow what Judar says?

Is it his fate to encounter further misfortune if he goes inside a dungeon with Judar?

Hakuryuu frowns as he adjusts his grip on the scrolls held together by Judar's wind magic. "Ugh, just shut up, Judar."

"Ahh, as I thought, you look prettier in black."

Hakuryuu's frown deepens as he registers the other's nonsense. He doesn't even need to look down on his clothes to know that he's not wearing anything black, therefore not giving Judar any reason to say such words. Plus, Judar's gaze is fixed to a point a few centimeters off Hakuryuu's body.

It's been years, but he still hears echoes of reverent whispers about black, black and more _black_.

He's the Emperor's scarred younger brother who's been hearing echoes from a time that should have long been forgotten.

And yet, they insist that the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Hakuryuuuuu!!! How can you do this to me?! Do you actually hate me?!!!"

Hakuryuu takes an instinctive step back, a reaction that should grant him some space away from his magi friend that somehow burst into _tears_ the moment they see each other again after months of being on opposite ends of the world. For some reason, he doesn't think that the tears are because of some screwed-up dependency on seeing each other daily.

"Why would you conquer—"

Ugh, as expected.

Hakuryuu quickly hugs Judar, hiding his burning face on the other's shoulder, his hands coming up so he can tug at the base of the braid at the back of Judar's neck. He hisses into Judar's shoulder, mouthing at the scarf, letting Judar feel the ghost of teeth against his skin. "Shut up, Judar. Don't tell anyone."

Judar makes a whining noise, but he does capitalize on the opportunity to embrace him back, _in public_ , his hands wrapping around Hakuryuu's waist. "I should have been there, you know. I can't believe you had to lose your hand, Hakuryuu!"

"You're still noisy," Hakuryuu complains, even as he hears the small congregation of people in the harbor point and whisper at the inappropriate display of affection and favoritism between the Oracle who's supposed to favor the emperor and the emperor's younger brother without any accomplishments linked to his name. "And it's just one arm, okay."

Hakuryuu doesn't mention anything about the snake that bit the stump left of his left arm. Judar doesn't mention anything about Sindria and his strange relationship with that country's king.

" _Just—just_ one arm, Hakuryuu, you need to be more careful, I can't believe you—"

Witnessing Judar be so concerned has its own appeal, but it's also getting kind of annoying. He's not sure how to properly react to a _manchild_ whining at him incessantly and clinging to his arm, while spouting off hypocritical things about making sure that he's safe and all that. He cannot _believe_ the nerve of this guy, of this very reckless guy who does stunts that regularly courts danger, telling him to be _safe_. It boggles his mind, but he cannot deny that he does feel a little warm thinking about Judar's worry for him.

…just a little.

"Let's just go, okay," Hakuryuu stomps forward, bodily dragging the magi clinging to him. That sparks a whole new set of whispering amongst the onlookers, as they're probably thinking how curious it is for a prince without any territory to be able to command the attention of the flighty magi that's known for scoffing at others and outright disrespecting anyone he deems unnecessary.

Judar behaves for a few minutes, as the two of them make their way towards the magic carpet that will comfortably bring them back to the palace. The retainers that have been assigned to Hakuryuu don't even attempt to call him back, towards the pre-arranged carriage that should carry him back to show himself to the Emperor.

"…They'll make you into a general, huh." Judar ends up blurting out as soon as the two of them manage to sit on the magic carpet. While Judar's been practicing his gravity magic, it's still not at the level of being able to carry both himself and Hakuryuu all the way to Rakushou.

"There's no guarantee," Hakuryuu replies, right hand touching the tip of his spear, feeling the warmth of the eight-pointed star that declares him the reluctant conqueror of Zagan. "It depends on Br—Emperor."

"You're powerful, Hakuryuu." Judar tilts his head, shuffles closer so that their knees are bumping. They're seated on the carpet powered by the _magoi_ Judar weaves around him, legs crossed, facing each other. They're close enough that their knees and foreheads touch. Their words are murmured to the nearly invisible space between them. "Of course they'll make you to a general."

"I'm _not_ ," Hakuryuu protests hotly, remembering how helpless he's been during the past, during the diplomatic mission that he has failed to put under his control.

He's just supposed to go to Sindria to assist in investigating the mysterious disappearances of the villagers who live surrounding the Dungeon of Zagan. He's not supposed to go inside the dungeon itself, much less end up capturing the _djinn_ that resides there. Even Zagan said so himself—he's a useless crybaby who's only been chosen because he's the best amongst the townsfolk that have managed to reach the djinn's real body.

He can't help but think that if the guests from Balbadd had actually been there in the dungeon with him, they would have obtained the _djinn_ instead.

"But I believe in you, you know?"

"I'm _not_ ," Hakuryuu insists, knocking their foreheads together.

His fists shake and he brings his hands away from the spear that now houses a djinn, so he can curl his sweaty, shaky fingers against the fabric of his pants.

He just wants to be _useful_ to his brothers, to his family that gives him so much, but it's just not working.

He doesn't want to think of all the campaigns that he has led and the campaigns that went haywire. He doesn't want to think of the words that the King of Sindria used to talk to him, making him feel so keenly the difference in their experience and maturity levels. He doesn't want to think of how his uselessness extends to not being able to help some of the citizens that were kidnapped by some of the savage pirates terrorizing the southern seas.

He doesn't want to think about how everything that had happened is just because of their fate.

He just wants to be able to help them realize their goals, whatever those may be.

"Hmm, I don't really like Zagan's aura, but that's… _fine._ At least it means that you won't be stuck as a household vessel! Isn't that great, Hakuryuu?"

Hakuryuu groans, whispering his words petulantly. He dislikes it when Judar is acting _obtuse_ and deliberately misunderstanding him. "It's not great at all."

But Judar shows his understanding of him by steering the magic carpet around, taking a huge detour around some of the towns surrounding the capital's borders. By all means, travelling by air should take fifteen at most. But Judar seems intent on floating the two of them over the rivers, the streams, the markets, anywhere but the palace.

He doesn't want to show to his brothers that he went ahead and obtained a djinn's power, never mind that it's not like he asked for it.

Hakuryuu sinks into Judar's shoulder, feeling frustration curl like a strange snake inside his gut.

He's the useless Prince who can't even obediently become a Household Vessel for the Emperor.

And yet, they still preach that the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Hakuryuu! What happened to your arm?!"

Hakuryuu gapes in horror at his arm – or rather, what has remained of his arm. He's had a couple of weeks to get used to the feeling of not having an actual arm attached to his left shoulder, but to feel it be pulled away from its socket once more, to feel some insistent wriggling like a thousand worms have made his arm their home… it's a distasteful feeling, once that he'd rather not relive again.

Without much thought, he allows himself to be shuffled to the side, Judar standing in front of him protectively, his ruby-pointed staff raised and already brimming with the called-upon _magoi_ from the atmosphere. The clouds from above, the drinks from their cups, the water from the streams – they're all curling towards the end of the staff, ice shards forming from the water particles.

In front of them, in the middle of the crowd of the Kou Empire's officials and nobles, interrupting the party that's supposed to celebrate Hakuryuu's undeserved promotion to a General as well as his congratulations for conquering Zagan – stands a man that looks familiar, if only because his face is veiled with a plain white cloth, revealing only his mouth stretched to a grotesque grin.

"Ahhhhh, Prince Hakuryuu, your body's _rukh_ feels sooooo comfortable," the stranger taunts, overly familiar, smiling creepily.

Hakuryuu shivers from the implication, remembering the echoes from a time long ago.

Predictably, his brothers attempt to move closer to negotiate with the sudden arrival of an intruder. Even more predictably, Judar yells with unrestrained wrath and doesn't even attempt to garner more information, swinging down his hand like a divine hammer of justice, unleashing the wrath of an overprotective magi towards the veiled priest.

Throughout it all, Hakuryuu's right fist clenches and unclenches with the warring thoughts of wanting to help fight this intruder that dared to integrate itself into his body without permission whatsoever, this intruder that dared to invade the mighty Kou Empire as though it doesn't fear the power of the greatest king in this world. He's successfully hidden Zagan and its conspicuous eight-pointed star seal, but if things devolve further, he'll have to _help_ fight off this dark magician.

He doesn't get the chance to even join the fight though. The stranger has been easily destroyed into submission, reduced with mere ash from the combination of Judar's lightning magic and Emperor Hakuyuu's fire-based Extreme Magic.

He's the helpless Prince who has been singled out by the enemy by being weak enough to be used in its infiltration, bringing the curse to the capital.

And yet, they still think that the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Hakuryuu, dear Prince, no need to worry so much. It can't be helped, after all. You can leave the rest to us."

Hakuryuu twists his lips, as he feels his gut twist into an ugly spiral at those words.

Those words would usually sound helpful and caring, their sentiment providing comfort to its recipient.

But Hakuryuu knows that comfort is the furthest thing on the advisors' minds, echoing and echoing the same words, gently steering him away from war meetings, from strategy meetings, from the front lines of the battle.

He's supposed to be a general that serves as one of the vanguards in Kou Empire's continuous vigilance against the breakage of the world's tribes and countries from each other.

He's supposed to think of projects to make the territory assigned to him prosper.

He's supposed to expand the territory's safe zone so they can utilize the expansive fields stretched out beyond them for agriculture.

He's supposed to facilitate negotiations with the neighboring tribes that want the territory for themselves.

He's supposed to protect his meager territory from any barbarians that aim to pillage their villages.

He's supposed to not cause any further disappointment and disgrace to the crown, to his brothers, to his _family_.

He's supposed to be many things.

He's not supposed to languish in the shadows of his brothers' successes.

He's not supposed to gain a metal vessel that's not part of his brother's household.

He's not supposed to attract the unwavering support and favor of the empire's one and only Oracle.

But he, Ren Hakuryuu, has proven that even with all of the world's blessings focused on his family, it's still possible to produce third-rate beings like him.

He's pitiful enough that even the advisors who openly scoffed at failure are threading ground around him very lightly and carefully, as though they consider their scorn too much for someone without anything positive to speak of.

He's pathetic enough that he hears the echoes from long ago repeated over and over and over in his own voice nowadays.

"…They kicked you out again, Hakuryuu?"

Hakuryuu looks up just in time to see Judar descend from the skies in a graceful arc, his long braid whipping in the wind, creating ripples of darkness across his vision. He takes a few moments to appreciate the other's movements, proving yet again that he's special, for being able to make simple motions appear regal almost. His first-hand knowledge of how bratty Judar can be isn't enough to deter him from being awestruck by the other's powerful existence.

It's _vexing_.

"Weren't you supposed to be in Balbadd, Judar?"

He's not supposed to address the oh-so-important magi so casually, especially in a tone lacking utmost reverence.

"Maa, maa, don't sweat the details, Hakuryuu!" Judar waves off his question about his whereabouts, which means that the other flaked off and escaped from his official duties _yet again_. "Aren't you happy to see me??? I'm happy to see you! And hey, we should try that hunting game I saw! We can have a race about who can catch more deer? I'll even promise not to use my new magic for, hmm, the first five minutes?"

"…Shut up, Judar."

He's not supposed to brush off the other's blatant favoritism.

"Aw, don't be like that, Hakuryuu!"

Falling into step together, Judar walks beside him, laying a hand casually around his shoulders, the arm warm to touch.

The soldiers milling around pause upon the sight of the country's all-powerful _magi_ acting so casually and _friendly_ with the imperial family's _disgrace_.

"Kouen will be displeased with you going off _again_." It does irk him a little bit that even the Emperor's personal advisor has better military sense than him.

Judar laughs at that, a hint of cruelty in his tone. "Ah, forget about Kouen! Sure, he's kind of good, but he's _nothing,_ you know? Compared to you, that is."

Color floods Hakuryuu's cheeks while shame fills his insides. He can't quite grasp Judar's train of thought whenever he proclaims these _lies_.

"Ahh, let's not talk about that goateed uncle," Judar suggests when his silence stretches for too long. "Let me show you this new magic I learned, huh? What do you say, Hakuryuu?"

He's the powerless Prince who can't do anything right no matter how hard he strives.

And yet, they still believe that the Kou Empire's future remains bright.

•••

"Hakuryuu, we've come for you, oh vessel of our father—"  
"Hakuryuu, we've come from the Seven Seas Alliance and we want to help save you—"  
"Hakuryuu, don't worry, we'll come and save you and make sure that you don't fall to their hands—"

" _Hakuryuu_ —!!!"

He wakes up from his darkness-induced slumber, but even though he can feel both of his eyes stretched as wide as his eyesockets would allow, all he sees is the darkness that has enveloped him ever since the day that he overheard his family convening without his knowledge, deciding to send off him to a laughable territory buried deep within the mountains in the Far East, where nobody lives, not villagers he can call his own, not enemies he can call his own, not family he can call his own.

" _Hakuryuu_ —!!!"

He hears their excuses, their veiled insults against his incompetency. He hears their words about wanting to keep him away from any possible harm, not knowing that sending him off to play prince and general to a territory of nothingness is worse than stabbing him on his chest over and over. He hears their words and hears the echoes of being fated—destined—bound by an order called fate but could otherwise be known as imprisoned-cursed-abandoned to a life of failures.

And there's nothing he can do against this machination.

And so he _hates_.

He curses this fate with all he has.

" _Hakuryuu_ —!!!"

He blinks and he sees the darkness blend into something even more unfathomably desperate, black tendrils of shadows wrapping around his entire being, black birds taking flight, hissing their welcome towards the other being that has been dragged down to his own hell that's been boiling from the inside.

Hakuryuu sees Judar, floating in the same space of darkness he's at.

No words are needed at this point—because Hakuryuu sees the same darkness inside Judar's eyes. Judar reaches out with both his hands, clasping Hakuryuu by the shoulder, the shadows wrapping around the two of them, the words and echoes calling out for a cruel god whirling around the cocoon of darkness surrounding them.

He's the Prince that's fallen to depravity, despite having a wonderful family, despite having everything anyone can ask for.

And yet, the Kou Empire's future remains—

—in spite of all the horrors that have happened to him, to Judar, to the rest of the world, the rest of their futures remain bright—

—…he's going to destroy that unfair fate, so that his own future may shine bright.

•••  
< **end** >

**Author's Note:**

> …ahhh, will probably make this to an expanded series, but then again it's gonna end with more despair, so also probably not uhhh… also, so sorry if this is rushed – I panicked about not making it in time for JuHaku week orz oooh and I didn't quite manage to squeeze in the archer!Hakuryuu, because he keeps on hiding the spear and using the bow, that Zagan's star transfers to the bow orz so many ideas, so little time orz


End file.
